MY FIRST TIME EVER...

to fold form metal.  I love the ideal of manipulating sheets of metal into forms that create beautiful jewelry.  I've watched others who seem to effortlessly fold metal into three dimensional shapes and wished that I could do that.  It always seemed to me that it would take the skill and strength of a seasoned blacksmith to be able to heat and pound metal into shapes and forms that come alive with fluidity.  In one sense I was right, but in a  bigger sense I was so wrong.

A while ago I received my issue of STEP BY STEP WIRE JEWELRY, (Aug-Sept issue).  In it are instructions for a Battered Heart bracelet by Abbi Berta, using basic fold forming techniques.  I thought about it and read the article several times, and then I pulled out the torch and hammer and gave it a try.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  My product isn't going to win any awards, but we all have to start somewhere...

These are basic, first tries, BUT I DID IT.  I cut, heated, folded, pounded and shaped my way through my first metal fold forming attempt and I did okay.  Now, I want to run out and take a blacksmithing class.  It was so much fun turning a flat, shinny piece of copper into something with character and soul.  Jewelry is always satisfying to me because, no matter how a piece turns out, someone, somewhere will love it.  You, as the designer, just have to get the piece into the hands of the person that it calls to.  Fold formed jewelry has always called to me, and now, I can make it.  How great is that?

Onward and upward, who knows what I can create with lots more practice and inspiration.

HAPPY CREATING, Y'ALL